We fairly regularly receive questions from members and alumnae regarding the use of individual’s personal homes for chapter events. From a risk management standpoint, we have a few different opinions based on the type of event being held. However, regardless of the type of event being held (whether it be a philanthropic fundraising event, an alumnae chapter meeting, or a recruitment event), the important thing to remember is that the homeowner would be responsible for any bodily injury or property damage that might occur from the actions or inactions of an attendee at the function. The homeowner, by hosting the event in their home, takes responsibility for any injury or damage that occurs during the event. Presumably, their homeowner’s policy would serve as the appropriate way to handle the incident.

We highly recommend that the event organizers advise the homeowner of this information prior to the event, so the proper expectations have been set beforehand. Obviously, this might convince some volunteers to rescind the use of their home, but this alternative is far better than having them upset when we decline a claim that developed out of their event in their home.

If a function is planned at an individual’s home that rises to the level of a significant event with many attendees, such as a fundraiser, we would highly recommend that there be a specific contract in place between the group and the owner of the home listing the terms and responsibilities of each party to the contract, such as provisions that clarify which party is responsible for any bodily injury or property damage that comes from the event. If you are contemplating this type of event, please contact us as early in the planning process as possible, so that we can address the necessary insurance verbiage and requirements upfront. If we deem that the exposure is outside of the normal level of risk, the insurance company may require some additional premium.
The other potential exposure that must be properly addressed is the matter of catering and the serving of alcohol at these events. In these cases, both the organization and the homeowner would need to take the appropriate measures to ensure that both the caterer and who ever serves the alcohol has their own insurance coverage in place to cover their actions.

Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Use CTRL+F to search for a specific term on this webpage.

Aggregate Limit: A limit in an insurance policy stipulating the most it will pay for all covered losses sustained during a specified period of time, usually one year. Aggregate limits are commonly included in liability policies and apply per chapter location.

Bodily Injury: Injury to the body, sickness or disease sustained by a person, including death resulting from any of these at any time.

Certificate of Liability Insurance: This is a certificate issued by the insurance company detailing the particulars of the insurance coverage in place for all chapters and regions under the general liability policy. This certificate may be used to document the existence of coverages for chapters and regions. This document is not sufficient when a third-party requests a certificate where they are named as an additional insured.

Certificate of Liability Insurance for an Additional Insured: This is a certificate issued by the insurance company detailing the particulars of the insurance coverage in place for all chapters and regions under the general liability policy. This document specifically identifies a third party as being expressly covered under the general liability policy for a specified period of time (i.e. an additional insured). This form of insurance certificate is often requested by facilities where chapters or regions are planning to hold events.

Claim: An incident where the injured party is making a demand for compensation under the terms of an insurance contract.

Director’s & Officer’s Liability Insurance: Offers directors and officers protection from personal liability and financial loss arising out of wrongful acts committed or allegedly committed in their capacity as officers and/or directors.

Exposure: The measure of your vulnerability to loss.

General Liability insurance: Coverage that pertains, for the most part, to claims arising out of the insured’s liability for injuries or damage caused by ownership of or responsibility for property, sale or distribution of products, and liability for the insured’s operations.

Incident: An occurrence involving bodily injury to a member or guest that does not result in a formal claim. All incidents must be reported when discovered due to possibility of them becoming a claim.

Intentional Act: Deliberately fraudulent acts or omissions, wanton, willful, reckless or intentional disregard of any law or laws. An accident, including continuous or repeated exposure to substantially the same general, harmful conditions.

Property Damage: Physical injury to tangible property, including all resulting loss of use of that property. All such loss of use shall be deemed to occur at the time of the physical injury that caused it; or Loss of use of tangible property that is not physically injured. All such loss of use shall be deemed to occur at the time of the “occurrence” that caused it.

Underwriting: The process of selecting risks for insurance and classifying them according to their degree of insurability, so that the appropriate rates and premiums may be assigned. The process also includes rejection of those risks that do not qualify.

Have we missed a term that you would like to see explained? Contact Sara Sterley with your suggestion. Thank you!

Introduction

Understanding contracts can be complicated. Full of legal jargon and insurance terminology, sometimes reading a vendor contract can feel impossible and overwhelming. This document is meant to help you break down the components of a contract and identify insurance related language that may be problematic for your organization. We hope that this article helps empower you to think critically about whether signing a contract is in the best interest of your organization.

Contracts and the Transfer of Liability

One of the most consequential insurance issues found in contracts is the transfer of liability from one party to another. Such a transfer can be explicit – “while in your use, you are responsible for any property damage to the rented facility,” or less explicit – “if you agree to this term and there is a bodily injury incident, then you have forfeited the opportunity to sue the venue for an unsafe physical condition in the property because you are holding them harmless.”

Often these less explicit transfers of liability aren’t caught before a contract is signed and a member has unknowingly bound an organization to more liability than is preferable or intended.

Look out for the following verbiage in a contract that can indicate a transfer of liability:

While MJ does not review contracts for hold harmless or indemnification language, they are still cause for concern and you should consult your organization’s policies for guidance. Under an MJ contract review for insurance language, contracts that include only hold harmless and/or indemnification clauses will be considered satisfactory and there is no need to submit them to MJ for review.

If your contract contains other insurance related language such as additional insured or a third party is requesting a certificate of insurance, please fill out this form to have your contract reviewed for insurance requirements.

Addressing Additional Insured Language

An additional insured extends liability insurance coverage beyond the named insured or your organization and its members and staff to include other individuals or groups. Often, contracts require that the third-party vendor be listed as an additional insured. This extends them coverage under your policy, meaning that you forfeit the right to sue them if they were negligent in their responsibilities under the signed agreement. Potentially, your policy would have to pay for a claim and associated costs where an additional insured was grossly negligent, even if you had little to no responsibility.

This is clearly very unfavorable for your organization. If you see additional insured language in a contract, please first refer to your organization’s policies and procedures. Then, attempt to get the contract amended to exclude the additional insured language. If you have additional questions or are unable to amend the contract, please contact MJ Sorority to review the contract and, in consultation with your organization’s headquarters, provide recommendations.

Determining a Third Party’s Existing Insurance: Certificates of Insurance

When hiring a contractor, renting a venue, or working with other third-party vendors, it is essential to determine whether they have adequate insurance. Before signing a contract, be sure to ask for copies of the third party’s certificate of insurance, which will provide you with this important information.

MJ recommends that third parties hold the following minimum limits of liability insurance:

If a third-party does not hold these minimum requirements, please contact your headquarters to determine whether you need to identify an alternative option.

Liquor Liability: Deep Dive

We often hear that a state does not require a venue or bar to carry liquor liability at all. This does not change our recommendation. If you are contracting for a service where alcohol will be served, the party administering the alcohol service should carry at least $1,000,000 of coverage per occurrence in liquor liability. The requirements or lack thereof in state law are immaterial.

 Helpful Tips and Tricks

Always do your homework before signing a contract. If you’re considering a facility for rental, do a walk through and refer in the contract to any visible property defects or damage that was present before your function was held. This eliminates the possibility of the venue alleging that you damaged their property during your event.

Plan ahead! If organizing an event, be sure to give yourself plenty of time to find alternative venue or bartending service if necessary. It’s important whenever you enter into a contract to do your due diligence and be confident that you’ve selected the vendor that is the best fit. If a vendor can’t or won’t provide a certificate of insurance at your request, this is a red flag and often a sign of a poorly run business.

It’s always a good idea to have more than one set of eyes review a contract. Check with another chapter officer, advisor, or staff members to review a contract, especially if there is language you feel is unclear or don’t understand. Your organization’s policies are a huge help when determining whether a risk is tolerable! If there is insurance language such as additional insured or a certificate of your insurance is requested, MJ Sorority is here to help! Here is a handy link to our contract review forms.

Examples of Contract Language

Here are some examples of the more common transfers of liability:

Signed, Sealed, Delivered!

Our goal is always to help you manage risk and achieve the task at hand—whether that’s contracting with a service provider to mow your lawn or renting a venue for a spring formal. By asking questions up front, you can save yourself and your organization from regretful contracts and succeed in achieving your goals!

So you’ve figured out that you need to complete the form on our website? You’ll need the following before you get started:

Now we’ll go step-by-step through the form together.

*We are using this as a generic sorority name as an example. Substitute in your sorority’s name.

Whether or not to quarantine sick members or employees at the chapter house is up to each individual chapter and house corporation to decide based on their organization’s guidance, their campus and local health department guidance, and the structure and layout of their individual facilities.

Many of our clients are feverishly preparing for their members to return to campus, both resident and non-resident. We can only imagine the stress and anxiety that you are facing as you navigate the opening of your chapter house. We appreciate you and your leadership as you face this challenge, you need to be confident in knowing that your organization has secured a comprehensive insurance policy to cover the entities and your exposure to liability. 

As we have urged, we are confident that you will implement the COVID-19 CDC guidelines, you will have trained your staff on the procedures, and you will have educated all your collegiate members on the safety guidelines. Having done so and doing your best to get compliance, your liability will be significantly reduced. The standard is “what a prudent and reasonable person would do.”

During these chaotic times, the comprehensive insurance coverage that your organization has purchased hopefully gives you the freedom to make the best business decisions for your chapter or house corporation.

Safety measures are being implemented for not only your collegiate members, but just as importantly, for your employees. We recently had a question that we wanted to address for reference. The question was what should be done if the house director becomes ill with the COVID-19 virus. 

Below are some points to consider:

As always, please do not hesitate to contact your Client Executive should you have additional questions or need further guidance.

As a house corporation volunteer, you are in the midst of reviewing the impact of the COVID-19 virus on the chapter operations and the possibility/probability of your college or university being opened this fall academic semester and what that would look like. We have come to understand that each and every campus will be deciding the best option for its students and that the sorority chapters will undoubtedly have to follow their lead.

Thus, we think that this is a good time to make a connection with the appropriate university personnel who can help you also navigate this matter more effectively. As a means of trying to establish a relationship/partnership with the university, we are suggesting some basic questions that you may want to consider asking to get a sense of where the university is currently thinking which may ultimately help you gauge your direction. As a private organization, you will have the choice to make the decisions that work best for your house corporation and the chapter but sharing information can also be of some assistance in this very challenging matter.

Whom to contact at the university will vary by university, but we have seen many universities designated a COVID-19 taskforce. We recommend asking to speak to someone on the taskforce, if applicable. If that is not possible, the office of the Dean of Residential Life would be a great resource to connect with now, as well. 

With the situation changing so frequently, please be sure you are reviewing the most updated version of this document and, as always, check with your national organization before taking any of these recommendations.

Whether or not to quarantine sick members at the chapter house is up to each individual chapter and house corporation to decide based on their organization’s guidance, their campus and local health department guidance, and the structure and layout of their individual facilities.

We have created some questions to consider in making the decision whether or not to quarantine sick individuals at the chapter house:

Legal liability exists when:

What actions during the COVID-19 crisis could possibly lead to the insured (chapter and/or house corporation) being found legally liable for an injury from the virus? Before we lay out some examples it is always important to remember that society and the courts generally only require that a person or entity act “as a reasonable and prudent person” and using their best, and most informed, judgement act accordingly. 

Examples might be:

There are numerous other scenarios; however, the major point is that there will be advice from experts like the CDC on how to follow health and prevention guidelines to keep your chapter house safe from spreading COVID-19. The key is to follow the health and prevention guidelines, educate your employees and members on these guidelines, and put measures in place to ensure their compliance of these guidelines.  Should someone get injured or ill and allege they did so on your property, you will be able to confidently defend your position by having followed these best practices.

At MJ Sorority, we created this resource packet to help our clients plan safer events during the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the situation changing so frequently, please be sure you are reviewing the most updated version of this document and, as always, check with your national organization before taking any of these recommendations.

As we navigate these crazy times dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, we are trying to address as many possible scenarios that need to be addressed for chapter facilities to safely open and stay open. We are relying on the experts and doing our best to collect the experts’ advice and information that impacts our clients. It is important that our clients are staying as up-to-date as possible on the current recommendations by their respective national organization, by their state and local governments, and by the campus (including campus health and residential life departments) in which they are affiliated.

We have been researching various scenarios and questions that face sororities specifically.  Because each chapter facility faces unique challenges depending on their specific facility, their campus, state, etc., we cannot offer clear guidance that applies to every chapter house. For that reason, we are offering the advice on the following situations with the stipulation that each location will need to do what is best for their individual situations, ensuring that they are following their own organization’s policies and the guidance from local and campus public health departments.

The risks associated with the communal sleeping arrangements that do exist in some sorority chapter houses will need to be closely reviewed. At face value, these congested/densely populated and poorly ventilated rooms will be a breeding ground for the virus and the eventual spread to others in the same room. If it is possible to utilize the personal rooms for the temporary sleeping arrangements, this would be the best recommendation; however, we recognize that this may not be possible from a business perspective. This is another example of where you must chose your risks, so to speak, and the business risk to your operation with significantly less members paying room and board may outweigh the risks of members being exposed to the virus.

Some best practices to consider should you have no choice but to maintain the usual group sleeping arrangements are as follows:

Communication during a crisis is crucial, and it is possibly even more important during a global pandemic, in which conditions are changing sometimes multiple times during the same day. It has become abundantly clear that the success of a university and a sorority chapter house to be able to maintain operations will be closely tied to the students’ and members’ commitment to follow the best practices established. It is of utmost importance that communication lines are open between the chapter and House Corporation leadership and the following entities:

Whether or not to quarantine sick members at the chapter house is up to each individual chapter and house corporation to decide based on their organization’s guidance, their campus and local health department guidance, and the structure and layout of their individual facilities.

We have created some questions to consider in making the decision whether or not to quarantine sick members at the chapter house.

If a location does choose to quarantine ill members, this is the CDC guidance for quarantining sick members. Kappa Alpha Theta created this housing and safety plan that they graciously agreed to share, which includes a simple approach and expectations should a member be symptomatic or test positive. Each sorority is using a slightly different philosophy, but many general principles are mutual. 

Quarantining a House Director

Generally, a house director has a private living arrangement that would lend itself to a quarantine. However, this does not align well with the house director being able to continue to perform their job responsibilities. A possible alternative may be to secure a temporary employee to temporarily takeover the house director’s responsibilities for oversight of the property.

See our resource on additional things to consider if your House Director tests positive for COVID-19.

The CDC guidance on social distancing is particularly difficult in communal living spaces. We recommend the following measures be put in place should you chose to re-open the chapter house:

Additionally, the CDC recommends the following considerations for common spaces in your facility.

We recommend that our clients offer tremendous flexibility to employees and members at higher risk of infection. Based on what we currently know, the CDC defines those individuals at higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19 as follows:

It is important that employers are following the CDC guidance for businesses and employers. We recommend that all chapter house employees be provided with cloth face coverings and disposable gloves. When cleaning and disinfecting, employees should always wear gloves and gowns appropriate for the chemicals being used. Additional personal protective equipment (PPE) may be needed based on setting and product.

Here are some additional resources for review:

Testing availability and requirements are so widely disparate based on various areas around the country that we cannot make any recommendations on testing at this time. We recommend that you contact your state and local health departments for additional information and clarification.

In order to re-open, it may be recommended to take temperatures of residents, employees, and guests. The federal government has waived certain HIPAA privacy rules during this emergency situation, but, again, it is important that you abide by the recommendations set forth by your national organization, your campus health department, and your state and local health departments for clarification.

It is important that you encourage member residents to monitor themselves for symptoms daily.

The most important and relevant resource for decontamination is the CDC’s Guidance on Cleaning and Disinfection for Community Facilities. Stay tuned to the CDC guidance for the most updated information based on our evolving knowledge of the novel coronavirus. Review our recorded webinar on cleaning and decontamination recommendations.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has recommended increased ventilation for COVID-19 prevention.

The CDC has stated that COVID-19 is spread mainly from person-to-person, through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes. The droplets can possibly be inhaled by people nearby. Because of this, the CDC recommends increasing building ventilation to cut down on recycled contaminated air. 

Now, more than ever, it is imperative that HVAC system filters are inspected, exhaust systems are operational, and outside air sources are maximized. Many older buildings do not meet current codes, often lacking outside air intakes and exhaust. Even newer buildings, which may be equipped with intakes and exhaust, can be out of service or improperly balanced. 

We urge you to consider this inspection as a part of your enhanced cleaning/decontamination work in your chapter house. 

People living and working in sorority chapter houses will have challenges with social distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19. In this type of shared housing, residents often gather together closely for social, leisure, and recreational activities, shared dining, and/or use of shared equipment, such as kitchen appliances, laundry facilities, stairwells, and elevators.

It is imperative that local house corporation and chapter volunteers are working together, communicating openly and often, and touching base with their state, local, and campus health departments, which can help you decide when and if you need to scale up or loosen prevention measures.

Note: Surgical masks and N-95 respirators are critical supplies that must continue to be reserved for healthcare workers and other medical first responders, as recommended by current CDC guidance. All staff and residents should wear a cloth face covering when in shared areas of the facility and maintain social distancing to slow the spread of the virus.

Identify platforms such as email, websites, hotlines, automated text messaging, newsletters, and flyers to help communicate information on:

Accepting guests at facilities

First, review and follow the guidance and directives from your state and local officials. It is our recommendation that chapter houses do not allow guests during the pandemic.

If you decide to allow guests, we recommend that you put in place check-in requirements and provide any guests with a clean cloth face covering.

With the situation changing so frequently, please be sure you are reviewing the most updated version of this document and, as always, check with your national organization before taking action.

The CDC has issued the following guidelines to properly disinfect your facilities before welcoming members, employees, and guests back in to the chapter facility.

OSHA COVID-19 Website

CDC Home Care Guidance

CDC COVID-19 Environmental Cleaning and Disinfection Guidance for Households

CDC Home Care Guidance for People with Pets

Risk control doesn’t start when an employee begins work – it starts with the job itself. View Travelers’, the insurance company for MJ Sorority clients, collection of resources to help you attract and hire employees in your organization.

A checklist developed by the American Red Cross.